Dignity
by Hungry4games
Summary: The story of an ordinary tribute who does something extraordinary. Just a little two-shot. PLEASE read and review!
1. Dignity

I'm in a dimly lit metal room, with my stylist Genia and a cup of water violently shaking in my right hand. My good hand. My left is crippled due to a large machine in the factory that I work at. Work_ed_ at.

I realize that in a few seconds I will be in the games and in a few minutes I will probably be dead. I look around for a way to kill myself. To die with dignity, instead of as a puppet to the Capitol. If I was to smash the glass my water is in could I use a shard to stab myself? Would Genia try to stop me? If she doesn't try to stop me and I succeed she will be killed. Publicly executed, blamed for my death. I don't want that to happen. Genia didn't hurt anyone, she doesn't deserve to die. Then again, the other tributes and I didn't hurt anyone and all but one of us will die.

I take a sip of water. The Capitol's water. I almost spit it out in disgust, but I'm thirsty and this might be my last chance to drink. I'm walking in circles now. Thinking about the reaping. The chariots. The training. The interviews. My plan. For a moment I start to get second thoughts, but I quickly swallow them. I am going through with this, I have to. I have nothing to lose, no family for the Capitol to kill. I'm going to die soon I think, and it's almost a relief.

I wonder how I will die? Will another tribute kill me soon after the games start? Will a gamemaker decide that I should die? I don't really care. I won't put up a fight.

Before I know it I am being trapped in a glass cylinder. This is it. Genia gives me a thumbs up and a smile while the plate I'm standing on rises. My head rises above the ground and I'm in the arena, and I have sixty seconds.


	2. Defiance

As my platform rises I look around. I am surrounded by mud and behind me is a forest. Each tribute is placed in a circle around the cornucopia, which is overflowing with weapons and food and other useful things that I will never have.

"Fellow tributes!" I shout and some faces turn toward me, "Fellow victims of the Capitol's cruel games! When the gong sounds I will not run to the cornucopia or to the woods behind me. I will stand here on this plate and protest the Capitol's sadistic games! I will not take part in the hunger games! I ask you to let me do this! You may join me in protest if you wish. Or you can rush in and embrace the games! Send the message that they are not that bad! Or you can run and hide! But you can never hide from the games, you all know that! You have seen the games, seen what happens to the tributes!" I start to lose attention because the gong will sound any second now.

"Even the victor will never really go home. Every day will be haunted by the twenty three lives lost in this arena! So I ask you to stand with me if you dare. If you dare to defy the Capitol!" And then the gong sounds.

Tributes run to the cornucopia, though it looks hard with all the mud. Others run to the forest. I look around to see if anyone stayed with me. No one. Of course no one did, they want to live. In fact, a career will probably be here to kill me soon.

And then I see another tribute, the girl from district eight. She is strong and she actually stood a chance in the games. But she stayed. I'm happy but then I realize that I need to act quickly because I might be dead soon.

"Gamemakers!" I scream, "I know that you can hear me! I also know that you are probably manipulating the video that you are shooting so that the people in the districts will not see or hear me. But they are smarter than that! They will know that we stood up to you! And it is my hope that that knowledge will push them to the rebellion that is inevitable!"

And I notice that the clouds are getting darker, and right then a lightning bolt strikes the ground about three feet to my left. I feel immense heat and I almost fall over. _We can kill you_, they are saying and I know they want me to run. But I don't.

I look to the girl from eight and she is still standing there. I see a flash of light as another lightning bolt comes down. This time it hits the girl in the head. And even though the fight at the cornucopia is still going on a cannon fires, because they want me to know that she is dead.

I don't move, because dying is part of my plan. And I see a flash of light and feel an electric current enter my skull.

THE END


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